Who Are the Voices of Disney Parks?

You may not recognize Bill Rogers in person but if you’ve been to Disneyland in the last 20 years or so you would recognize him as “The Voice of Disneyland.” He has performed most of the announcements at Disney theme parks since 1991 and also performs several announcements other Disney parks including Tokyo Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Rogers has been the world premiere live announcer for Disney / Touchstone Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, and Pirates of the Caribbean at Buena Vista Special Events.

Peter Renaday is likely the first voice you hear as you enter Disneyland as he announces “Your attention please” for trains entering the Main Street Station. Born Pierre L. Renoudet, his career at Disney started in the Disney Art / Props department in 1959 where he worked on paint touch-ups and signs for Disneyland. He got noticed after becoming one of the actors in an employee play group called the Disney Players and soon began performing small voiceovers for the park. Since then, Renaday has enjoyed an expansive career performing voice-over work for animated film, television, and video games.

BJ Ward got her start working for Disney composers, including the Sherman Brothers and George Wilkins. Ward sings Mother Rabbit’s “Burrow’s Lament” as thrill seekers climb the perilous Splash Mountain. You can hear her performing messages on several Disney attractions including Spaceship Earth, “it’s a small world,” and Magic Kingdom’s Peter Pan’s Flight. She plays “Mother” in Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. Ward’s huge list of voice-over credits span over 30 years and include several roles on the Smurfs, as Scarlett on the animated G.I. Joe television series, Betty Ross on The Incredible Hulk, Betty Jean Bricker on The Flintstone Kids, and, Betty on several Flintstone movies. She also played Iris the Computer on The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, and Winnie the Woodpecker on The New Woody Woodpecker Show.

Stephen Stanton is the voice of Lord Henry Mystic in Disneyland Hong Kong’s Mystic Manor. He also is the newest voice featured on the Mark Twain Riverboat ride. At D23, Stanton explained how he got his start in voice overs. “I really got involved in doing voice-over just by listening to cartoons as a kid and imitating all the voices; and then working in animation studios and volunteering anytime they needed a scratchtrack, and it just kinda evolved into that.” Stanton has lent his voice to dozens of video game characters as well and more recently in television roles as Admiral Tarkin on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Jimmy Stringer on Hero Factory, and many more.

Fabio Rodriguez was discovered by Bill Rogers while he was working on an industrial video for Xerox. When he was finished Rogers, who was in his studio next door, said “I heard your voice doing that thing, wouldn’t you like to audition for a Disney voice inside the Park?” And the rest, as they say, is history. Rodriguez now performs many of the Spanish messages heard throughout the park including The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Mark Silverman is the voice for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, carrying on Rod Serlings legacy. As a child Silverman imitated everything he heard for fun, annoying his teachers, which eventually led to him getting into voice-overs. His voice was picked from dozens of actors who tried out for the role, which he won after final approval was made by Rod Serling’s widow, Carol Serling.

Chris Edgerly plays Timothy the Mouse on Dumbo’s Flying Circus and he played Scuttle on The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure attraction. Prior to his voice-over career Edgerly did stand up comedy for 10 years. He has done extensive work in video game voice-overs and more recently performed voice-over as Gobber in Dragons: Riders of Berk; Gyro Gearloose in Duck Tales Remastered; and a variety of characters on The Simpsons.

Yeni Alvarez performs messages on many Disney attractions, including the voice-overs for Alice in Wonderland, Flik’s Flyers, Tuck and Roll’s Drive’Em Buggies, Jumpin’ Jellyfish, Gadget’s Go Coaster, and “it’s a small world.” She got her start with Disney after taking an animation seminar at Walt Disney Imagineering. During the seminar Brian Nefsky, casting director at Disney, entered the room and he heard her audition demo playing in the background and said, “That’s great Spanish, you have a Disney voice.” She is heard across Disney parks telling you, in Spanish, to keep your hands and feet in the ride at all times.

Corey Burton performs the Ghost Host introduction for The Nightmare Before Christmas – inspired Haunted Mansion Holiday. He got his start at Disney when they were looking for the voice of Hans Conreid, who played Captain Hook for the Peter Pan film, but Hans Conreid was out of town. Burton audition for the slide film and forty years later, he still performs Hans Conreid’s voice, along with many other voice-overs for Disney, including the voice of the Barrel Poop Pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

Camille Dixon, married to Bill Rogers, recorded her voice for many of the announcements at Disney California Adventure before they were replaced with Roger’s voice. However, one week before the official opening of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street, Disney did cast Dixon for the announcements at the last minute. She also performs the Electronica message for the Tron: Legacy movie sneak-peak in the voice of the Tron Siren.

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[…] You may not recognize Bill Rogers in person but if you’ve been to Disneyland in the last 20 years or so you would recognize him as “The Voice of Disneyland.” He has performed most of the announcements at Disney theme parks since 1991 and also… […]